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SISCA asks students to innovate sustainable solutions

Grad students from 17 universities around the world submit project proposals to the Sustainability Innovation Student Challenge Award (SISCA) competition, hoping to win the $10,000 grand prize or a $2,500 runner up prize.

SISCA asks students to innovate sustainable solutions

Grad students from 17 universities around the world submit project proposals to the Sustainability Innovation Student Challenge Award (SISCA) competition, hoping to win the $10,000 grand prize or a $2,500 runner up prize.

"Our project aims to provide a clean, efficient and sustainable power source for various sectors of the society," Chen Zhang and Ke Li wrote in an e-mail. "If our project succeeds, all the conventional internal combustion engines, which is the major consumer of petroleum, can be replaced by the free piston engine that can operate at higher efficiency and use a variety of renewable fuels."

Zhang and Li are the two University of Minnesota grand prize winners of the 2013 SISCA competition. They received $10,000 to continue gathering data and begin commercializing their product.

The SISCA program was established five years ago to promote innovative thinking and interdisciplinary collaboration in addressing the world's biggest sustainability challenges, according to Eunice Heath, global director for sustainability, business engagement and education at Dow.

These include renewable energy, protecting the planet, public health and clean drinking water for everyone.

"There's no one company or no one institution that has the answers to the problems, so we need to make sure that we are continuing to support the next generation that is going to drive policy, business decisions and innovation," Heath says.

Graduate students from the 17 participating universities around the world submit project proposals that are judged on criteria including innovative thinking, excellence in research and the interdisciplinary nature of the work.

At each university, a $10,000 grand prize and $2,500 runner up prizes are awarded.

Zhang and Li say their free piston engine plan contains a control mechanism that lets engineers control the piston trajectory in real time, which improves engine efficiency and reduces emissions. This design allows the engine to run on various power sources, including renewable fuels.

"[It] could be used as the power source for fieldwork devices and handheld or non-handheld equipment," Zhang and Li wrote. "It can be the power propulsion system for passenger vehicles and heavy machineries, and it can be used for distributed power generation."

The pair, along with two other students, developed an anaerobic biodigester to convert organic waste from a local brewery into methane gas to be used for energy. Their project seeks to reduce carbon emissions and landfill waste.

"The anaerobic biodigester prototype that we built could effectively generate usable energy while reducing waste," Goldberg and Hawley wrote in an e-mail. "This adds value to a waste product, which gives businesses an economic incentive to make their processes more sustainable."

Goldberg and Hawley entered the SISCA competition to gain experience in the environmental field by creating sustainable energy solutions and using technology to reduce landfill waste.

Students in other fields can also contribute to making the world more sustainable during their everyday activities.

"Conscious minimization of one's environmental impact is critical," Goldberg and Hawley wrote. "[This includes] focused efforts to minimize environmental impact, such as refusal to buy plastic water bottles or use plastic bags at the store."

In January 2014, the University of Queensland will join the SISCA program, becoming its 18th university.

Heath says the SISCA program helps provide the next generation of leaders in the sciences with an interdisciplinary foundation for solving sustainability issues.

Zhang and Li think this is critical because society's future development is built upon breakthroughs in technology.

"Unfortunately, our current way of living depends heavily on energy consumption, and it doesn't scale well as the world population grows," Zhang and Li wrote. "Technical innovations have been and will be the driving force to overcome issues such as sustainability."